What she first did, and what you will have to do as well, is find all sorts of bottles. Of course, she found her bottles in The Toss Mound, but you can find them at yard and garage sales, and even at one of those "dollar stores". There are wonderful colored and clear bottles of all sorts of shapes out there! You could even use bottles that once held ketchup or vinegar...as long as the opening isn't too huge!

The next thing to be done is the decorating or embellishing. There are SO many things that you can do with a bottle. Sometimes Anola takes wire and wraps and twists it in various ways around the bottle, hanging beads and baubles as she goes.

You can also spray paint the entire bottle with flat black or some other dark color, and after it dries, you can sponge on, or spatter metallic gold paint. That makes it look quite elegant! You could also handpaint flowers, or dots, or butterflies, or whatever you desire on it!

When Anola makes them for the Queen, she many times will glue or hang parts of jewelry pieces onto the bottle.

Once the bottle is embellished the way you like, you need to find or purchase a white porcelain knob. It must be porcelain, not plastic or glass. These are the kinds that you use on kitchen cabinet doors. They vary in size and in price, depending on where you find them. I have found them anywhere from 75 cents to over $2.00. Regardless, if you were to purchase a commercially sold "porcelain cork" with the wick, they run anywhere from $7.99 and up. The porcelain knobs used for these bottle candles are the ones that have the hole down the middle (where the screw usually goes), and should not be the ones that have metal through the hole!

Then you must find lamp wicks. They are sold in many places, and there are even specialty stores that sell only candle making items. There, they actually sell different kinds of wick by the yard! You can also find some kinds of wicks for use in oil lamps, at hardware stores and also places where they sell camping supplies. The wick will be stuffed through the hole of your porcelain knob, so make sure that your wick is not too thin, or too fat. (take your knob with you when looking for wick material...that way you can check!)

Sometimes you have to fold the wick to get the required thickness needed to fill the hole. These are great to use in the shorter bottles! You just take a longer wick and fold it in the middle, then stuff it through the hole. The two "tails" will go down into the oil.    

Once you have your wick in place, carefully fill the bottle with LAMP OIL, leaving about an inch space from the top, and put the wick and porcelain cork on. Allow it to sit there for 20 minutes or so before lighting it. This will give the wick time to absorb the oil.

THINGS TO REMEMBER: NEVER use kerosene, or gas or anything else BUT LAMP OIL!!!! Make sure that your wick is JUST popping out of the hole end. If you have too much wick out, the flame will be huge, and it might even smoke a bit! NEVER touch the knob while it's lit. It does get hot. Which brings me to the next reminder...this is not a toy for children. Keep bottle candles away from their reach. Children are naturally attracted to pretty, things and they might want to grab.